Wake County ending era of online mug shots

Zoom in: Sam Pennica, director of the county's Bureau of Forensic Services, tells Axios that the change is to help ensure expunged criminal records aren't available to the public.

• Expungements have become automatic in North Carolina when charges are dismissed or defendants are found not guilty or not responsible for a crime.

Pennica says his department is not being notified of expunctions processed automatically, though, and wants to minimize exposure of potentially outdated records.

• "We get calls weekly from people who say, 'Look, my picture's still out here," he says. "These people are getting that second chance in life, you know. The court has ordered that they get it, and we're trying to comply with it."

Catch up quick: A 2020 state law automated the expunction process for people who are found not guilty (or not responsible), or whose charges are dismissed. Previously, defendants had to petition the court.

• The legislation, named the Second Chance Act, also made it easier for teenagers to have certain misdemeanors and low-grade felonies expunged.
• It unanimously passed the General Assembly in June 2020, although implementation was twice paused before the provisions took full effect, The News & Observer reported. Cases dismissed or decided after Dec. 1, 2021 qualify for the automated process.

By the numbers: In the five years leading up to the law change, there were around 13,000 expunctions a year, on average, according to data provided by the Administrative Office of the Courts.

• The numbers have jumped around in the years since as automatic expunctions were paused and restarted and backlogs were processed, ranging from 16,390 to 1.4 million.

Stunning stat: The automated expunction statute was cited in 93% of the nearly 2 million expunctions between mid-2021 and mid-2025.

• Data for 2025-26 is not yet available.

Flashback: Wake County's online database was started in 2007 after a deluge of requests from The Slammer, a $1 tabloid that contained thousands of mug shots.

• Its publisher, Isaac Cornetti, lived in Raleigh, though the publication sourced arrest records from many places, delivering weekly editions to convenience stores across several states, ABC News previously reported.
• Its "eclectic spread includes features such as the 'Slammer Salon' of crazy arrest-night hairdos; a 'mug shot extravanganza [sic]' of the bleary-eyed; the 'Kiddie Korner' of busted young adults; and 'Mature Menaces,' featuring senior alleged larcenists and check forgers," per a 2009 Christian Science Monitor feature.

What they're saying: "We were requested by The Slammer to provide every arrest for every day. It was like, 'How are we going to handle this?' So that's how it started," Pennica said.

• Before that, arrests were printed in a book in the lobby that news media would read through before requesting printed photographs.

Between the lines: News outlets have also reckoned in recent years with whether to use mug shots. Most of the Triangle's TV stations and newspapers rarely publish them.

The other side: Mike Tadych, a Raleigh attorney who works with the N.C. Press Association, said in an email that it was unfortunate that "access will be restricted to in-person searching."

• "Even if expunged, the general public — including the media — have no obligation to remove information of this sort. Being arrested and charged does not presume guilt. Certainly, there may be a journalist expectation to update or do new reporting that a charge has been dismissed, but it doesn't change the fact that it happened at some point," Tadych said.

How it works: After the website is taken down, daily arrest records will instead be accessible from a desk in the Public Safety Center at 330 S. Salisbury St.

• "It'll be continuously updated. The only change is you're not going to be able to sit at home on your computer and access it," Pennica says.

What's next: The public website goes dark Aug. 17.